Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Peer Zumbansen
Introduction Private Ordering in a Globalizing World:
Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies - Volume 14, Issue 2, Summer 2007, pp. 181-190

Indiana University Press

Project MUSE - Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies - Introduction Private Ordering in a Globalizing World: Project MUSE Journals Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies Volume 14, Issue 2, Summer 2007 Introduction Private Ordering in a Globalizing World: Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies Volume 14, Issue 2, Summer 2007 E-ISSN: 1543-0367 Print ISSN: 1080-0727 DOI: 10.1353/gls.0.0004 Introduction Private Ordering in a Globalizing World:Still Searching for the Basis of Contract/- Peer Zumbansen The Ubiquitous Return to Contract Contractual governance ranks high on the agenda of contemporary law and policy debate. Contracts as concepts1, tools2 or frameworks3 of societal ordering and self-regulation occupy a central place in fields ranging from individual business agreements to complex, cross-border commercial relations, from standard form contract arrangements to hybrid contractual regimes in public service delivery. Contract is dead,4 long live contract!5 The debates over the rise and fall and rise of freedom of contract are legendary6 and endless,7 and symposia abound.8 There are many reasons for the attention presently given to contractual governance. They are so plentiful, in fact, that it is hard to imagine how to incorporate them into first-year teaching materials in such a way that students are at least alerted to the wide-ranging assessments and contestations that surround contractual agreements and contract law. Yet, given the...